Digging out old phone for GPS

[grellboy]

Afternoon. My current phone has real problem with Gps - giving me 100kph average speeds etc - so am thinking about digging out an old phone, getting a £10 pay as you go credit and then use this reliable old phone in conjunction with Sports Tracker or similar. Does anybody else do this and more pertinently, would daily use nuke the £10 credit quicker than Peter Sagan at a wheelie convention?

 

[nickyboy]

Afternoon. My current phone has real problem with Gps - giving me 100kph average speeds etc - so am thinking about digging out an old phone, getting a £10 pay as you go credit and then use this reliable old phone in conjunction with Sports Tracker or similar. Does anybody else do this and more pertinently, would daily use nuke the £10 credit quicker than Peter Sagan at a wheelie convention?

The GPS tracking doesn't use any data at all. It's the maps that it's tracking against that use data. What you do is download the google map of wherever you are planning on cycling while you have wifi. Then you can use the map offline (not using data) in conjunction with your GPS tracking (also not using data)

 

[Nigel-YZ1]

It may be worth checking how quick the GPS drains the battery on the old phone. For the sake of £10 give it a go.
My new phone is too big and pricey to risk falling off with it, so in a similar position I got a Garmin Edge 200, and put the old phone on a £7.50 a month contract to sit in the pack for emergencies.

 

[Globalti]

A cycling buddy of mine did this to ride from Lancashire to Cornwall for a wedding; he simply loaded up the cycling route to the next B&B or YHA then turned off the screen, stuck an earplug in one ear and followed the instructions. He was amazed at the routes it gave him, it took him to some lovely places he would never have found by using an OS map.

 

[Milkfloat]

It may be worth checking how quick the GPS drains the battery on the old phone. For the sake of £10 give it a go.
My new phone is too big and pricey to risk falling off with it, so in a similar position I got a Garmin Edge 200, and put the old phone on a £7.50 a month contract to sit in the pack for emergencies.

£7.50 contract just for emergencies? If you want to save money, get a Three PAYG, the credit does not expire each month. My last top up of a fiver was 2 years ago or more.

 

[mjr]

Old phones have less efficient processors, less power-efficient GPSes and you may struggle to find compatible apps if there's no operating system upgrade for it (like a lot of early Android phones are stuck on version 2.3, yet more are stuck at 4.1, while 6.0 is now out). At best, a new battery will be worth the £10 or so cost, but it may still not work. Cheaper than a dedicated unit if it does, though.

 

[si_c]

Old phones have less efficient processors, less power-efficient GPSes and you may struggle to find compatible apps if there's no operating system upgrade for it (like a lot of early Android phones are stuck on version 2.3, yet more are stuck at 4.1, while 6.0 is now out). At best, a new battery will be worth the £10 or so cost, but it may still not work. Cheaper than a dedicated unit if it does, though.

On the other hand though, you can stick the old phone in flight mode, so that it't not using radio or wifi, and most tracking apps will just record the GPS position without using much battery. I've had 8 hours or more out of my current phone just using a GPS tracking app.

It's actually the phone and data part of the phone that uses the most battery, along with other apps. I'd suggest just trying to use the old phone without a sim card. In all likelihood it'll complain on starting about not being able to find a sim card and then carry on regardless.

 

[jefmcg]

1. Your new phone is faulty. Try a factory reset, but if that doesn't work you should send it in for repairs.
2. No need for a contract at all, just use wifi once you get home.
3. Putting the phone in airplane mode will massively extend the life of the battery, so even if you had a sim card, I'd suggest you not use it.
4. if it's android, OSMAnd does mapping, routing, follows gpx routes, records your ride, gives voice commands all without need of a signal.

2 & 3 include TMN to @si_c & @nickyboy

 

[Dogtrousers]

The GPS tracking doesn't use any data at all. It's the maps that it's tracking against that use data. What you do is download the google map of wherever you are planning on cycling while you have wifi. Then you can use the map offline (not using data) in conjunction with your GPS tracking (also not using data)

GPS position fix may use some data, if it uses A-GPS. But you're right that the tracking shouldn't use data at all. Mind you some other sneaky apps like email might want to start up a data session. But you can probably set up the phone to disable this.

I am not an expert. The above may well be cobblers.

@si_c 's approach of using it without a SIM looks like a good one.

 

[Globalti]

I quite fancy the idea of setting off for, say, Newcastle station, about 120 miles downwind of home, seeing where it takes me and just stopping at the first B&B or pub that looks OK. Credit card touring, wind-assisted.

 

[drummerbod]

https://www.cyclechat.net/threads/mytrails-gpsies.181113/

 

[ufkacbln]

The GPS tracking doesn't use any data at all. It's the maps that it's tracking against that use data. What you do is download the google map of wherever you are planning on cycling while you have wifi. Then you can use the map offline (not using data) in conjunction with your GPS tracking (also not using data)

Beware
Some systems use / used data from phone masts to triangulate the position ... this data did cost

 

[kiriyama]

Strava apparently can use mobile data to get a better fix on your position, but whenever I have ran out of data or got close to running out and turned data off I haven't noticed any difference at all. I keep trying with the idea of using a spare phone just for Strava, but my normal phone works just fine so haven't bothered.

 

[drummerbod]

Disable the data and wifi and bluetooth whilst out to extend the battery life.

Download the whole of the UK OpenCycleMap for free and run it offline.